Schools and accommodation

[SuperPug]

A lovely job has come up. Accommodation is offered as it is partly boarding. No Saturday school. I currently work at a similar school but don't live on site.
Just wondering how other teachers have found this, if the school isn't in walking distance of a main town or similar? It would be me and DH at tje moment.

[SuperPug]

Hopeful bump...

[LockedOutOfMN]

Very much depends on the school. Have you been offered the job or are you thinking of applying? Can you ask for a tour of the school? Presumably the head of boarding / head of boarding house with the vacancy will want to meet you and you can ask them for some more details?

[Unicorndiscoball]

Pros:
subsidised accommodation
No commute!
Social life onsite
Use of facilities at evenings and weekends
Often lovely surroundings/lots of countryside

Cons:
No escape!
Colleagues can be irritating/cliquey. I found when it was good it was great, then it got a bit claustrophobic.
You are always at work all the time - very difficult to say no to things when you’re just there
Can be tricky socially for the ‘trailing spouse’. You end up socialising with colleagues and just talking about work all the bloody time.

[SuperPug]

Thanks very much for the replies. Thinking of applying and I would hope that was part of the interview process.
Yes, unicorn, those are some of my concerns as well.
If you don't mind me asking, did you pau for accommodation? At my current school, colleagues do. A colleague is going somewhere else and this won't be expected.

[Unicorndiscoball]

We paid for accommodation if we didn’t have a boarding specific job. So if you were a housemaster or a resident tutor then it was free, as you needed to be onsite. If you were ‘just a teacher’ who lived in a school house you had to pay. However it was soooo cheap! All bills included and cost about 1/3 of market rent in the same area. Was a lifeline for us (newly qualified and engaged, both starting out in our careers). As soon as we were married and could afford it we moved off site. I couldn’t hack it long-term for the reasons mentioned above. we’d moved from London zone 2 to the middle of nowhere so we moved out to the centre of the nearby market town, which was really lovely.

[SuperPug]

Thanks unicorn.
My concern is that would be long term, a big commitment and an upheaval from our current lives. I really love the school though and the sound of the job.

[Elpheba]

Go for it! I used to work in a similar school and although there are pros and cons, in my eyes the pros easily outweighed it. Mine was completely free as did boarding duties but only 3 nights per week and as no boarding or Saturday school at weekend it meant that people actively had a life outside of school on the weekend so it wasn't like you had to be in each other's pockets the whole time. I was single at the time though so didn't mind hanging out with colleagues or just escaped to non work friends if I'd had enough.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat though, the money you save is incredible too. But you do have to be able to cope with people just turning up at your door- children and even the maintenance team etc. It doesn't truly feel like its your space all the time.
Any interview at my previous school would include a tour of accommodation on offer if it was appropriate for the role so you should get to see it then. Good luck!

[SuperPug]

Thanks Elpheba (great name!)
No guarantee I would get it of course, but still mulling it over.